The Effects of Aid on Individual Attitudes toward Homosexuality in Malawi

• In Event: 102 - Regular Session. Development and Gender

Abstract

Donor and other international policy organizations have substantial influence on national and local priorities around health and development in developing contexts. Donors are increasingly using this leverage to target controversial issues in their aid and policy packages, including criminalization of same-sex sex and discrimination of gays and lesbians. While their emphasis is often on policy change, contact with donors directly or via intermediaries in civil society may affect local attitudes toward homosexuality. This paper examines whether and how exposure to donors, measured using geocoded aid data, has shaped individual attitudes toward homosexuality in Malawi, a heavily aid-dependent country in Central Africa. The paper draws on an original, nationally-representative household survey of Malawians and finds that exposure to donors has had an effect on Malawian attitudes toward homosexuality, but not always in the expected direction of liberalization. The paper also addresses concerns around the measurement of attitudes toward homosexuality generally and in African contexts specifically where concerns around human rights of sexual minorities have been most contentious.

Author

• Tara A. McKay, Vanderbilt University